| FHC Info | |
Hours of Operation:
Mon: Closed
Fri: 9:30 am-1:00 pm
Saturday:
9:30 am-4:30 pm
Tues, Wed, Thurs:
9:30am-4:30pm, & 7-9:30 pm
Directors: Linda & Kurt Christensen Washington DC Stake Carol & Gary Petranek, Silver Spring MDStake |
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| WDC FHC News | | |
New Equipment
We are delighted to report that our FHC is now equipped with new computers. They are faster units with large screens, and they will make your browsing experience much easier. It will take a few weeks to get all 15 computers upgraded, but staff will direct you to the ones that are new.
We also have a new Flip-Pal mobile scanner http://flip-pal.com. This is a terrific resource for scanning any photo or document, but is especially useful for larger items that will not fit on a standard flatbed scanner. We hope you will bring your oversized documents and pictures and use the Flip-Pal to digitize and preserve them. This scanner has been purchased in memory of Morgan Busch, a long-time volunteer at our FHC.
Saturday Classes
January 19, 9:30 -10:30 a.m. Using Wills in Genealogy Research
Presenter: Sue Mortensen
Learn how to mine nuggets of genealogy gold from this important resource.
February 16, 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. African-American Research Mini-Conference
Celebrate Black History Month and hone your research skills at the same time! This mini-conference will cover strategies and subjects of interest to researchers of all ethnicities and geographical areas. It will be held at the Washington DC Temple Visitors' Center, 9900 Stoneybrook Drive, Kensington, MD (next door to our FHC).
March 16 - 9:30-10:30 a.m. Digging Deeper: City Directories, Taxes, and Voter Registration
Presenter: Rebecca Koford
Learn how to go beyond census and vital records to find clues in these often-overlooked resources.
All classes are free of charge, but registration is requested.
Email info@wdcfhc.org, or call 301-587-0042
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New Updated 5-Minute Genealogy Videos
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FamilySearch's popular 5 Minute Genealogy series has been revised and updated to reflect new information and provide a fresh feel to the series. Episode 1 focuses on the 5 minute challenge, which shows that by using FamilySearch.org, the average person really can find a record of their ancestor within the first 5 minutes of searching. The content is easy to follow and informative and is fun to watch. There are a total of 20 episodes in the series.
Source: FamilySearch Blog, January 3, 2013
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Top 100 Genealogy Websites
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Every January, GenealogyInTime magazine posts a list of the top 100 Genealogy websites. The top 10 are often well-known, but there are many others that may be just what you are seeking in your research.
The top 10 are:
Ancestry.com
MyHeritage.com
Find A Grave
FamilySearch
Geni.com family tree
Ancestry.co.uk
Archives.com
GeneaNet forum
Genealogy.com
MyFamily forum
The full list of all 100 websites, along with links, can be found here.
Source: GenealogyInTime, January 2013
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Extract or Abstract? Both Are Vital Skills
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by Michelle Goodrum
"What's the difference between an extract and an abstract? An extract is a word for word copy of important portions of a document. An abstract summarizes the important points in a document. Abstracts also allow for the use of your own personal style.
How are extracts and abstracts similar?
- Both require a full citation of the document being abstracted or extracted.
- Quotations are used in both but are prevalent in an extract.
- Elipses (...) are used to indicate quoted text that is left out. This is especially true in extracts.
- Square brackets, [ ], are used to indicate your short comments. Also, [sic] indicates that spelling, facts or other information in the document are incorrect, that you are aware of it, and made no changes to how it appeared originally.
Why do we prepare extracts and abstracts?
- Some repositories don't allow photocopies, photographs or scans. Abstracting or extracting allows us to leave with the important information.
- Abstracts and extracts are good to include in your notes or a report (as is a transcript).
- It helps you to pick out the important details.
- It helps in analyzing a document.
- It helps you to develop a better research plan.
- Extracts and abstracts are more concise than a full transcription. This is important if space is an issue.
This is such an important subject, Chapter 16, "Transcripts and Abstracts," in the book, Professional Genealogy is devoted to the topic. Whether you are doing land and property research or any other type of family history research, transcribing, extracting, and abstracting are vital skills to have in your toolbox."
Source: TheIndepthGenealogist Blog, November 27, 2012
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The Google Genealogist (Maps and Google Earth)
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Learn how to use Google Maps to create a map of your family history. Download a KML file and record a life sketch tour in Google Earth.
 | | The Google Genealogist (Maps and Earth) |
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Quit Claim Deeds and Deed Releases
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by Bill Dollarhide
"The use of deed records in genealogical research can help locate an ancestor and the success rate is very high. There is always a good chance of finding a deed for a person who bought or sold land, and that information may contribute to a genealogist's understanding of the exact time and place when a person lived in a particular county....
Here are five reasons why deeds are so valuable to genealogists:
1. Deeds are indexed in cumulative form, sometimes spanning over decades. They may be listed in only a few large volumes, while marriages and other county records may be spread across many, many volumes. Going through the grantee-grantor indexes does not take as long as going through other county records.
2. For early periods, deed indexes act as a list of residents in a county to give you a good review of who lived there, including neighbors you have noted from censuses or tax lists. It is a way of getting a "yes" or "no" answer to the question of the right county where a person lived. It is an excellent way to retrace the trail your ancestor followed. This is based on a ninety percent chance that your ancestor owned land. If a man is not listed in a deed index, the chances are great that he did not live in that county.
3. Deeds sometimes make reference to a "case number" for some civil action regarding property or a probate court action. Probate and civil court case files are excellent sources of genealogical information - but poorly indexed. Therefore, going through the deeds first may present the only clue that other records exist in another part of the courthouse.
4. Deeds often give the name of a man's wife. Because of the English common law of Dower Rights for a widow, a man's wife may not have been able to own land in her own name, but she did have veto power over the sale of the land due to her dower rights. For that reason, a wife's name is often included in a deed transcript.
5. Deeds are more complete and go back further in time than other type of records for genealogists. Land ownership evidence was so important that they were the first records reconstructed after a courthouse fire or other natural disaster."
The full article with details about Uncommon Deed Records and Quit Claim vs. Deed Releases can be found here.
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Online U.S. Vital Records
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Which United States birth, marriage, and death certificates are available online? The answer is that it varies by state and date. In many states, clerks began registering marriages a century or more before they recorded births and deaths. Births and deaths were recorded in most states by the early 1900s. In some states, they go much earlier. Massachusetts vital records begin in the 1600s. Online United States vital records are found on a number of website, or state government sites. Some states have not placed their records online and it is necessary for near kin to fill out forms and order copies of certificates.
What's a quick way to determine if your state's records are online? A link to each state can be found here.
Source: FamilySearch Blog, December 31, 2012
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| 13 Ways to Find Eastern European Ancestors | | |
by Lisa Azlo
Eastern European research can present unique challenges. Lisa Azlo's article contains helpful tips and links. One example:
The full article and multiple links can be found here.
Source: Examiner.com/Genealogy, December 30, 2012
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Genealogy "Tips of the Day"
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by Michael John Neill
Dower vs. Dowry. A dower is that part of a husband's property that the law assigns to his wife. On land records, the wife may relinquish her dower rights when the real estate is sold. A dowry is usually property that the bride (or her family) brings to the marriage.
List All Those Variants. An effective tool for searching online databases and indexes is to have a list of all the spelling variants for your name of interest. If the list is only "in your head," it is easy to occasionally overlook an alternate spelling.
The Common Nature of the Name. Do not always assume that individuals with the same last name "have" to be related. It could simply be that the last name is more common in that local area than you know.
Did They Change the Spelling? It's always possible that your ancestor altered the spelling of his name. Name spellings, especially before the twentieth century, were not always consistent, and your ancestor might not have even been literate. Don't get too tied to the "correct" spelling because chances are your ancestor did not care about spelling as much as you do.
Did They Really Meet on the Boat? The story makes for a romantic one but, like many family legends, the reality may be somewhat different. A couple may not really have met for the first time on the boat. They may never have met on the boat at all. The future husband may have immigrated as a single man and then sent word back home that he had settled and was ready to marry. Story was my great-great-grandparents met "on the boat," having been from different villages. They were born in different villages, but there's more to it than that. The future bride's family had moved to the small village where the groom was living about ten years before the couple married. They knew of each other before they ever crossed the pond.
Look After You Think You Should. Stopping because you have located one record is never a good idea. By keeping on going, I discovered that an ancestor was divorced from the same man not once, but twice. By keeping on going, I also discovered that another relative's first marriage "didn't happen" and they were actually married two years later. Combine these unusual circumstances with the occasional record that gets entered or indexed late and you have even more reason to look for entries or documents "after you think you should."
Get It Even If You Think You Know What It Says. Sometimes researchers don't get specific records because they "know what the record will say." Sometimes the record may say exactly what you think it will. And other times it will say something completely different. While it may not always be inexpensive, if you have a "brick wall" ancestor, make certain you have not avoided getting records because "you know what they will say." Something unexpected in those records may answer your question.
Source: Genealogy Tip of the Day
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Research Tips & Resources
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Google Cultural Institute, 1905-1942
Although not genealogy-specific, this initiative by Google has historical information that can provide valuable information on the era in which your ancestors lived:
California Digital Newspaper Collection The California Digital Newspaper Collection contains over 400,000 pages of significant historical California newspapers published from 1846-1922, including the first California newspaper, the Californian, and the first daily California newspaper, the Daily Alta California. It also contains issues of several current California newspapers that are part of a pilot project to preserve and provide access to contemporary papers.
Source: Genealogy's Star, December 29, 2012
Harold's List of Upcoming Genealogy Events Harold McClendon keeps a master list of genealogy events in the Washington DC metropolitan area, and has just published the first list of 2013.
BYU Family History Library
Digital Quaker Collection
DQC is a digital library containing full text and page images of over 500 individual Quaker works from the 17th and 18th centuries. The proprietary software developed for Earlham School of Religion provides multiple search functions and an interface for viewing pages.http://esr.earlham.edu/dqc/index.html
RootsTech 2013
This popular family history and technology conference will be held March 21-23 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Click here for information.
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Thank you for subscribing to Generations. We hope this publication will motivate you to successfully begin or continue your family history research. We would like to hear from you! Please submit your questions, research tips, and favorite websites to us at info@wdcfhc.org
Sincerely,
Carol Petranek, Newsletter Editor
Linda & Kurt Christensen
Gary Petranek
Directors, Washington DC Family History Center
10000 Stoneybrook Drive, PO Box 49
Kensington, MD 20895
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